The second quarter holds the most important data for many online merchants, mostly due to timing. By the time Q3 data is released, online retailers have already planned and executed their holiday shopping sales and marketing strategy. This year, the Magento Canadian benchmark data for the second quarter (April, May and June) of 2015 indicates a considerable upward trend across the board, with a 141.35% increase in sales compared to Q2, 2014.

Demac Media sums up the purpose of this data in its introduction, “Knowing where you stand and how to stand-out is the key to remaining competitive in digital retail.”

Canadian eCommerce Benchmark Data: Q2 2015

Average online order was $133.96 CAD

Average number of transactions was 386

Average conversion rate was 1.45%

An average of 51% of visitors were new to the online store and 49% returned after visiting previously.

The average time spent on the website was 3 minutes, 50 seconds.

Canadian Website Traffic Sources and Resulting Sales

It’s important to take note of the traffic sources and how they converted to online sales for Canadian merchants in this study. Most notable is the organic traffic and the resulting sales, which in today’s search environment is almost invariably attributed to high quality content.

Organic search brought in 49.04% of visitors, resulting in 40.82% of online sales.

Paid search brought in 10.88% of visitors, resulting in 12.08% of online sales.

In total, search campaigns brought in 59.92% of visitors, resulting in 52.90% of sales.

Online shopping with smartphones and other mobile devices (mCommerce) is on the rise in Canada, just like it is in most countries. However, desktop still wins out in order value, conversions and the overall number of transactions. Apple mobile products lead the pack when it comes to popularity among Canadian online shoppers, followed by Samsung devices.

Average mobile conversion rate in Canada for Q2 was 0.58%.

The average amount spent online by Canadian mobile users was $122.35.

Average time spent on the website was 2 minutes, 42 seconds.

These benchmarks join the countless number of indicators that should be leading Canadian merchants online to a point of saturation. We are confident that between the lagging loonie and a greater number of retailers venturing into eCommerce, the online Q3 and Q4 2015 sales will be the most successful to date.

Further Reading

Do you need a hand with bringing your business online? Check out the following Canadian articles:

I like benchmarks but I take them at face value. They’re not really statistics but if I can find out what even 1 person is doing in any situation I’m better off for the comparison. Thanks for rounding up this stuff, it really helps.

Affiliate programs can be slow or make tons of money. It takes years to find the right combination sometimes but boy when you do it can take you clear through to a nice retirement. Pays better than RRSP!! I’m still making money from stuff I blogged a decade ago and that my friends is how its done right!!

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